Item of the Week: Harmony coin hoard left half dollar legacy
The massive Economy Hoard contained thousands of early U.S. half dollars, giving collectors today a possible connection to the Harmony Society and its remarkable cache of silver.
This issue’s story centers around the town of Economy, Pa., in the early 1800s. There was a group known as the Harmony Society, which followed the spiritual teaching of a German immigrant named George Rapp.
The Harmonists were something of a cult whose members emigrated to America to escape persecution. We can safely conclude that while they may have trusted in God, they were clearly partial to cash from everyone else, and especially cash in the form of silver half dollars.
Some might be a bit puzzled by the idea of half dollars. In the first four decades of the 1800s, the largest silver coin regularly found in circulation was the half dollar. A few silver dollars had been made prior to their suspension in 1804, but very few were circulating. If you happened to live in a place like the 1830s Economy and wanted large silver coins, you had to settle for half dollars. There are all sorts of theories about the Harmony Society holdings. What little we know is that they apparently were very good at collecting cash, for in 1878 a staggering hoard attributed to them was unearthed. No coin in the hoard was dated after 1836.
Theories are many and facts few, but we do know that the hoard contained some 115,000 coins — most of which were half dollars dated prior to 1836. Included in the numbers were supposed to be 150 1794 Flowing Hair half dollars — a significant percentage of the total known to exist today — along with 650 1795 Flowing Hair half dollars, but only three of the Draped Bust and small eagle type of 1796 and 1797.
There were reportedly a few thousand of the Draped Bust type. The bulk of the coins were the Capped Bust type half dollars of 1808 to 1836, a total put at 111,356 — a major reason why such coins are now relatively available.
The hoard contained a few odd coins of other types, the most important being a 1794 Flowing Hair silver dollar and 400 quarters dated from 1818 to 1828.
Why the coins were hidden for so many years is a burning question. One date certainly in the hoard in modest numbers is the 1805 half dollar. In the case of the 1805, it could only be found in modest numbers because only 211,722 were minted. That is a small mintage today, but in 1805 it was significant. There was a good reason — silver dollar production was suspended the previous year, so in 1805 the half dollar was the largest silver coin of the United States in active production.
Some of the 1805 production was of an overdate — the 1805/4, of which only 25 were believed in the hoard.
If you look at prices today, a G-4 1805 with a regular date is priced at $220, while the 1805/4 is $375 in the same grade. The price gap between the two expands in the upper grades. In XF- 40, an 1805 is $4,200, while the overdate is $5,000. In AU-50, the regular date is $4,700, and the overdate is $6,000, while in MS-60 the regular date is $22,00, and the overdate is $30,000.
Whatever the grade, the 1805 makes an interesting purchase as the half dollar, which was at the time the largest circulating silver coin of the United States — the first time in history that had happened with that denomination.
The overdate makes for an interesting companion coin. But whether regular or overdate, any 1805 has that interesting possible connection to the famous hoard found in Economy.
Images courtesy Heritage Auctions
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